(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a communication terminal, and in particular to improvement of a user interface in the communication terminal.
(2) Description of the Prior Art
In recent years, communication terminals which are used in systems such as PHS (Personal Handyphone System) and PDC (Personal Digital Cellular telecommunication system) have become widespread. In particular, such communication terminals are becoming multifunctional. In addition to voice communication functions, they have telephone directory and schedule management functions, customizable functions of which detailed operation settings can be made, internet connection functions, e-mail transmission/reception functions, and so on. This fuels competition between manufacturers to increase users.
Conventional communication terminals have a user interface known as a hierarchical menu to enable users to use this host of functions effectively. The hierarchical menu categorizes items for the various functions and setting values hierarchically, and displays a portion of the items with each hierarchy. The user can select the numerous functions without confusion by key operations in stages at each hierarchy. These selection operations are realized by a key for moving between items within the same hierarchy and a key for moving up and down between hierarchies.
However, with a hierarchical menu, it may be necessary to perform a number of operations to reach a desired item, depending on the depth and number of items in a hierarchy. This gives rise to a problem that it may take much time and effort from the user to execute one function. A mistake by the user in selection operations could mean that a series of operations from a top level to reach a lower level are completely wasted.
These problems mean that improvement of conventional user interfaces of hierarchical menus is an important issue in communication terminals.